13,000 apartments lie empty in Manhattan as Covid-19 chips at NYC real-estate values, data reveals
New York City’s woes in the times of the coronavirus pandemic continue as 13,000 apartments have been found to be empty for rent in Manhattan -- the highest number in almost a decade and a half -- as thousands of people have abandoned their homes fearing the disease. The Big Apple has also seen a sharp spike in criminal activities, including in its posh localities and the authorities have expressed concern that absence of its rich residents could take a heavy toll on the financial support for the maintenance of one of the world’s most prominent cities.
According to data released by real estate company Douglas Elliman on Thursday, August 13, the number of new signed leases has plummeted by 23 percent whereas the number of available apartments has doubled since 2019. The rental prices have slumped as a result. Last month, the average price of an apartment in Manhattan was $4,031, compared to $4,292 in July 2019. There are 13,117 listings on the market compared to only 5,912 in July 2019 which puts the vacancy rate at 4.33 percent -- more than twice than that last year when it was two percent, CNBC reported. Landlords struggling to rent their apartments are now offering more incentives, with an average of 1.7 months fee on fresh leases, the report added.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently expressed concern over NYC’s wealthy residents not returning (from their second homes in places like Hamptons) amid the pandemic and that would deeply hurt the city’s civic maintenance for their financial contribution constitutes a significant portion of the revenue. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, overlooked the rich residents’ absence and described them as “fair-weather friends”.
Landlords will find it difficult for a few years, says expert
Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel -- the NYC marketing firm that carried out the research -- told CNBC that the outbound move is higher than the inbound one at the moment and it could make it difficult for the landlords for a couple of years.
According to a report in Daily Mail, the average discount on new listings in the city is 2.5 percent, while it was 0.9 percent last year. In Brooklyn, average rent prices remained the same but total market inventory went up by over 84 percent. In Northwest Queens (Long Island City, Astoria, Woodside and Sunnyside), the prices went down by over 14 percent, inventory went up by more than 69 percent while the number of new leases signed went down by almost 60 percent.
The situation in the Big Apple is turning serious with crime rates going up and the city council approving a big slash in the local police’s budget in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. There is a huge number of homeless people in the city and they have been accommodated in some of the posh hotels to prevent the outbreak of the pandemic in shelters. More than 13,000 homeless people have been kept in the hotels, a move that has sparked a big controversy.